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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider NDRRMC mulls stopping SAR ops in Agaton-hit Leyte

NDRRMC mulls stopping SAR ops in Agaton-hit Leyte

Published Apr 18, 2022 02:32 pm

After nearly a full week of continuous search and rescue (SAR) operations, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said on Monday, April 18, that it was already considering to stop looking for survivors in Leyte province, days after it was battered by Typhoon “Agaton.”

Mark Timbal, spokesperson of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), gives uodated on the effects of Typhoon Agaton in a Laging Handa press briefing on April 18, 2022. (Courtesy of RTVM livestream)

NDRRMC spokesperson Mark Timbal said incident management teams in Baybay City and in the municipality of Abuyog conducted an emergency meeting on Monday morning to decide whether it would be better to stop the SAR operations and focus on the rehabilitation and recovery of the devastated areas.

“Ngayong umaga, nagpupulong ang mga kasamahan natin sa incident management teams sa Abuyog at Baybay kung itutuloy pa ang operations. May areas po kasi na talagang ang ating mga eksperto ay nagaalalala kapag ipinagpatuloy ng ating search and rescue teams ang kanilang isinasagawa dahil gumuguho ang lupa (This morning, our counterparts from the incident management teams in Abuyog and Baybay were conducting a meeting to discuss whether they would continue the operations or not. There are certain areas where our experts were worried about the safety of our search and rescue teams since these are prone to landslide),” Timbal said in a Laging Handa press briefing.

It has been six days since Agaton dissipated last April 12 and the SAR operations commenced in areas that were badly hit by the typhoon.

So far, the death toll due to Agaton remained at 172 and these were recorded in Eastern Visayas with 156 fatalities; Western Visayas, 11; Davao, three; and Central Visayas, two.

There were also 110 persons that were still missing and eight others who were injured.

“Medyo ilang araw na ang lumipas after the landslides. Although kami rito ay ‘di pa rin bumibitiw sa pagasa na marami pa rin ang maarerescue, we leave it sa kasama natin sa ground para mapagdesisyunan ito. Ang inaalala kasi natin ay ang kaligtasan nila kasabay sa pagalala natin sa mga naapektuhan (It has been several days since the landslides occurred. Although we are still not giving up our hopes that we can still rescue some of the victims, we leave it to our counterparts on the ground to decide on this. What we worry is the safety of the along with our concern for those who were affected),” Timbal said.

Timbal said the decision whether the SAR operations will continue or be halted might be released soon.

Once they stop the SAR operations, Timbal said the recovery and rehabilitation of the typhoon-battered areas will start.

Related Tags

leyte Agaton Baybay City Abuyog 4182022 SEARCH AND RESCUE
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